The Fireworks Technician
by EatADickClark
Summary: Mercury hooks Emerald up with a date, Roman has a mystery shipment arriving, Cinder wants to see the fireworks, and Neo wants to steal something.


Fireworks Technician

In the small corner coffee shop, Monk's Cafe, it was business as usual. People were drinking their coffee and eating their toast. A few men read the day's newspaper while others just sat contently with their coffee. Nothing out of the ordinary to be seen...except maybe the conversation between a certain mint-haired girl and her silver-haired partner.

"The guy said he wanted to meet Cinder and get the cargo loaded at the docks by twenty-one hundred hours."

"So nine o'clock," Emerald said, rolling her eyes at Mercury.

"Yeah, sure," Mercury said, shifting forward in his seat, ready to make a point. "But if I had just said nine, you might think that maybe I meant nine in the morning. I used military time so that there was no confusion."

"There was no confusion."

"But there could have been confusion."

"I wasn't confused."

"I never said you were confused."

"Good, because I wasn't."

"You weren't, I agree with you," Mercury paused. "But there was the possibility of being confused."

"No one is confused!" Emerald slammed her fist on the table as she said this. Mercury's super power had to be the ability to always push Emerald's buttons; whether he realized he was doing it or not. It was times like this that Emerald wished she worked with someone other than him.

"Alright," Mercury said. "Nobody's confused."

"Alright."

"But you understand why I did it?"

"Yes I understand why you did it!"

"Alright! Just checking."

"But to be clear," Emerald continued, determined to not let the argument end in Mercury's favour. "If you said nine, I would have got it. Who does shady business at nine in the morning?"

"If you get it out of the way early, you get the rest of the day to yourself."

"Oh whatever," Emerald sighed in defeat. "And I guess that would free up nine in the evening as well."

"Exactly! And since you would have two nine o'clock appointments in one day, you use military time to differentiate."

Emerald clenched her fists as she watched Mercury lean back in his seat, with his arms behind his head, pleased at the outcome of the argument. At first she was content with silently stewing in her anger, but then she had a realization.

"Or you could just use A.M. and P.M. to differentiate."

Mercury gave this new development a good amount of thought. Apparently he hadn't considered this method time keeping in his argument.

"Or you could do that," he said nonchalantly. "That would work just as well."

Even when she wins the argument, Mercury doesn't give the satisfaction of victory. Winning an argument with him is always so...anticlimactic.

"Hey," Mercury said, bringing Emerald out of her angry stupor. "Stop with the stupid idiot frown face. I actually did you a favour yesterday."

"Oh yeah?" Emerald said, leaning forward in her chair. "I can't wait to hear this."

"So, remember that chick from Beacon?"

"Uh," Emerald raised an eyebrow at his lack of description. "You're gonna have to be a little more specific."

"The cute one."

"Alright, so now you've narrowed it down to about half the students at Beacon."

"Ugh," Mercury threw his back, groaning in annoyance. "The blonde one. The _big_ blonde one."

Mercury held his hands out in front of his chest as he said the word 'big.' This was enough for Emerald to figure out who he was talking about, and it was also enough to turn her cheeks red at the thought of her.

"Xiao Long?" Emerald's body went stiff, and she turned her head away from Mercury as she spoke. "Yeah, I do remember her. What about her?"

"Yeah, I figured you remember them-" Emerald cheeks turned an even darker shade of red as Mercury said this. "Remember her, I meant to say. Anyhow, I saw her the yesterday. She asked about you."

"Sh-she asked about me? What did she say?"

"She said 'how's Emerald'," Mercury said with a smirk, clearly enjoying the way Emerald was acting. "She also might have said something about wanting to get together with you."

"Okay, okay," Emerald tried to hide her blush to no avail. "Let me say this now: if you're just messing with me right now, I don't think we'll be able to work together anymore."

"I'm okay with that. You're meeting her tonight. Expect a call."

"Oh my god, he's serious," Emerald fell back into her chair, her eyes sparkling as she thought of the possibilities.

"Now, I should tell you," Mercury started, earning a concerned look from his partner. "As of right now...she's under that impression that you're a, uh..."

"A what?"

"A fireworks technician."

"A fireworks technician?" Emerald looked at him incredulously. "Why am I a fireworks technician?"

"Well, you know," Mercury tried to avoid eye contact. "I may have a mentioned it."

"...but I'm not a fireworks technician..."

"I know that."

"What is wrong with you, Mercury?! What did you go and say that for?!"

"What," Mercury said with as much innocence as he could muster (which wasn't much). "It's a cool gig, right?"

"So what if it's a cool gig," Emerald said, losing her temper. "I'm not a fireworks technician. What if she asks me about it? Huh? What am I going to say?"

"I don't know what to tell you," Mercury shrugged his shoulders. "Just make it up?"

Emerald sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. She tried her best to ignore the fact that Mercury was giggling at her pouting.

"A fireworks technician...what a load..."

Before Emerald could complain anymore, Cinder walked through the door of the cafe and made her way to their table.

"Hey Cinder," Emerald said happily, clearly excited to have someone other than Mercury to talk to.

"Hello," Cinder said gloomily as she sat down next to Emerald in the booth.

"You sound like you're having a great day," Mercury said with a chuckle.

"Ugh," Cinder groaned. "You both know about when the shipment's coming in right?"

"Yeah, of course," Emerald answered. "Why? Is there an issue with it?"

"Yeah," Cinder snapped. "Yeah, there is an issue with. The guys bringing the stuff, the whatever it is-"

"What is it?" Mercury earned a glare from the raven haired woman at his interruption, but he continued anyway. "Roman set all this up, but never said what we were supposed to be picking up. Only when and where."

"I have no idea," Cinder said. "He didn't tell anyone. Now, as I was saying: the issue is that these guys are foreign."

"Wait, what?" Emerald was taken aback by what sounded like a blatantly racist statement from her boss.

"Wow," Mercury said sarcastically. "I had no idea you were a criminal mastermind _and_ a racist. You learn something new every day."

"It's not a racist thing," Cinder replied quickly. "It's a holiday thing. The Fourth of July is only an American holiday. These people don't care, so they're bringing the cargo in on the Fourth of July."

"Okay," Mercury said. "So we're doing business on a holiday. I didn't know that was such a huge issue."

"If it was during the day," Cinder continued. "Fine. If it was in the afternoon: no problem. In the evening? At nine P.M.?"

Emerald gave Merucry a grin at Cinder's use of 'P.M.' instead of military time.

"That's the time that fireworks are supposed to start."

Both Emerald and Mercury's jaws dropped as the words left Cinder's mouth.

"Hang on a minute," Mercury said. "You're upset that you'll be missing the fireworks?"

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"No, I know it's what you said," Mercury said. "I'm just having trouble believing it. You like fireworks?"

"Yes, I do," Cinder said. "Is there a problem with that?"

"What? No, not at all. I never took you for a fireworks person,"

"Is it really so hard to believe that I like watching the fireworks?"

"Hey, I'm not gonna judge you for it."

"And why would you judge me for that?"

"I'm not! I said I wasn't."

"But you imply that there would be a reason to judge for it."

"I never said that."

"I know that. But you implied."

"I never implied anything."

"Yes you did-"

"Okay!" Emerald stopped the argument before it got too heated. "Let's just forget about this for now, alright? No more implying anything."

"I never implied-"

"Enough, Mercury," Emerald said. "We're done with it now. Hey, I gotta go get ready for a date tonight, apparently."

"Remember," Mercury said. "Fireworks technician."

"Ugh," Emerald groaned in response. "Why'd it have to be fireworks technician? Why couldn't you have said I was architect? You know I've always wanted to pretend I was an architect."

"What's done is done," Mercury said, shrugging his shoulders. "Now go already."

"I'm going, I'm going. Bye Cinder."

"I'm going to be heading now as well," Cinder said. "Mercury, if you see Roman before our meeting tonight, see if you can't figure out what our mystery cargo is."

"You got it boss," Mercury said. "I'll see you tonight."

Back at his apartment, Mercury walked through the door to see that Roman had let hiself in while Mercury wasn't home. The intruder was lounged back on Mercury's sofa, watching television and eating from a bowl of candy.

"Hello, _Roman._ "

"Hello, _Mercury..._ " Roman said, not even looking away from the television.

"No, please," Mercury said sarcastically. "Come on in, make yourself at home."

"As you can see," Roman said as he motioned with his hands to the various empty candy wrapper scattered around him. "I have already done just that. You know, you should probably invest in better locks for your door. Or, at the very least a security system."

"I'd love to," Mercury replied. "But I think the cops would stop responding to the alarm after the fifth time you or Emerald or Neo or Cinder breaks in. They'd get bored with it real quick. Speaking of Cinder, she wants to know what the mystery cargo she's receiving is."

"Well, tell her from me," Roman said, brushing the candy wrapper from his waist as he gets up off the couch. "Don't worry about it. The Chinese have some cool stuff for us, trust me."

"I don't trust you."

"Well you should, because I'm the smartest one of this group. Without a doubt."

"Alright," Mercury said as he made his way to couch to clean up Roman's mess. "You can tell Cinder that next time you her. I'm sure she'll be real happy to know what you think of her."

Mercury heard a quiet jingling noise coming from his door, a noise that he instantly recognized as a lock being picked. The lock made a click as it was unlocked, and with an extravagant amount flair that left her stumbling as she entered the apartment, was Neo.

Neo looked at Roman, and her eyes lit up in relief at the sight of him. She pointed at him and nodded her head as she shut the door behind her with a slam.

"I'm just the person you're looking for," Roman said, as if he understood exactly what Neo meant, even though she had said nothing at all. "What can I do for you?"

Neo raised a closed fist in front of her face, and then brought up her other hand and started to flip the fingers from her closed hand into an upright position, one at a time until she got to three. Then she put the hand flat out in front of her, and slammed her fist into her palm.

"You don't say," Roman said putting his on his chin as he thought. "I think I can help you out with that. Is it the one of the river? The barge?"

Neo nodded.

"It just so happens I know a guy working there tonight. I'll have him work something out for you."

Roman turned to Mercury, who had been standing there watching the half audible conversation between his two unwelcome visitors.

"You got any plans tonight? I need you to go with Neo and help her with something."

"I'm supposed to help Cinder at the docks," Mercury said, relieved that he actually had a real excuse not to help Neo. "Maybe next time."

"I'll help Cinder," Roman said. "You go with Neo tonight."

"I kind of don't want to."

"But you kind of are going to," Roman said as he walked to the door. "Trust me, you won't regret it."

"I regret everything I've ever helped you with."

Roman walked out the door without acknowledging Mercury's remark, leaving him alone with Neo. The short girl looked at him a blank stare on her face.

"Uhm...what am I supposed to be helping you with?"

Neo held up three fingers.

"Okay, so that doesn't help at all."

Neo pointed at the three fingers she was holding up, and then brought her hands together for a moment before throwing them outwards like an explosion.

"Yeah, still not getting it."

Neo redid the exploding motion two more times before putting her hands on her hips and giving Mercury an expectant look.

"Fireworks?"

Neo nodded excitedly.

"Roman said something about a barge," Mercury paused. "Wait, you want me to help you steal fireworks? Three, specifically?"

Neo held up the three fingers again, nodding furiously.

"Oh boy."

Cinder tapped her feet impatiently as she waited at the docks for the mystery cargo to arrive. She kept glancing at the clock on the building behind her, hoping that if the people bringing in the shipment were quick about it, she might be able to make it in time to still see the fireworks. From the docks, they would obscured by the buildings and she would only be teased by the sound of them going off just out of her sight.

Lucky for her, the boat actually did arrive early. She walked to the edge of the water and watched as the boat was carefully brought into the dock. A Chinese man stepped out of the cabin and waved flamboyantly at Cinder, and she gave a curt nod in return.

"Hello," the man yelled. "Cinder, right? I got some stuff for you. Where's the orange hair guy? I thought he was going to be here?"

"So did I," Cinder replied. "But apparently he had more important things to do tonight."

"I bet he's going to the see the fireworks! I hear they're gonna be great this year."

"Yeah, I bet they are," Cinder said as she made her way onto the boat to start unloading the cargo. "Let's just hurry up here, and maybe we'll have time to go see them."

"You want to see the fireworks?" the man asked incredulously.

"Yes, I do. Is that so odd?"

"No, no, it's not odd at all," the man said. "I just...didn't take you for a fireworks kind of person."

"Why is it so hard to believe that I like fireworks?! I don't get it!"

"Hey, I think it's great that you like fireworks. It's an endearing characteristic for a person like you to have."

"Person like me?" Cinder asked. "What kind of person am I, exactly?"

"Uh, well," the man said nervously. "A hard working individual?"

"That's right," Cinder said. "Let's just hurry up with this. You're English is very good by the way."

"Oh, thank you," the man said as let out a sigh of relief that Cinder had changed the topic of discussion. "Working in the import and export business tends to help with it. Though lately I've been thinking about focusing on the import part, and quitting the export business."

"What all do you import and export?"

"Oh you know," the man said. "Lots of things. Potato chips and mattresses mostly."

"Potato chips and mattress?" Cinder asked. "That seems like an odd combination. Speaking of which, what exactly am I unloading right now?"

"Potato chips and mattresses," he said. "Though the chips are inside the mattresses. Apparently there's a big underground market for foreign potato chip brands in New York. What an unusual city you live in."

"They're had better be money in this," Cinder groaned. "I can't believe I'm missing the fireworks for mattresses filled with potatoes. Next time I see Roman, I'm going to have a word with him."

"He did say he already had potential buyers when I spoke with him."

"I certainly hope so, for his sake," Cinder said. "Oh, I don't think I ever got your name?"

"Art Vandelay," the man said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mercury stayed a few back behind Neo as they made their way to the barge to steal fireworks. When he met up with Neo, he noticed that she was holding a black briefcase in addition to her usual umbrella. He spent the entire trip trying to figure out was in the briefcase, but even when he tried asking he couldn't figure out what it was.

As they approached the barge, Neo turned and help up her hand to Mercury, telling him to stop. She handed him the briefcase, waving her finger back and forth as if to say, 'Don't even think about peeking.' Mercury rolled his eyes as the small woman made her way onto the barge.

Neo walked up to the man standing guard on the barge and fake passed out in front of him, her umbrella falling to the ground dramatically. The man went into a panic as he tried to get her to wake back up. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to wake her, he picked her up and carried her off the barge to get help.

Mercury took this as his queue to get to work. He made his way onto the barge and set to finding the three biggest fireworks he could carry.

He spotted three near the centre of the barge, but they were connected to a large number of different wires and fuses. There was no way he could see to get them out without ruining the rest of the fireworks.

 _Sorry Cinder,_ he thought as he started ripping out all the wires. Once free of their fuses, her lifted out the three rockets and put them into a bag that he had brought with him.

Picking up the briefcase, Mercury left the barge and made his way to the designated meeting place where he was supposed to reconvene with Neo. He tried to walk their as inconspicuously as he could, but carrying a suspicious looking back and a random briefcase made him look a little out of place.

Neo was sitting in a bench at the meeting place, and gave Mercury a big smile when she saw the bag of firework rockets. Mercury handed her bag and the briefcase, and without a word Neo turned to leave.

"Hang on a minute," Mercury said. "Two things before you go. One: Why do you need the fireworks?"

Neo shrugged.

"Did you just...want them? For no reason in particular?"

Neo nodded.

"You're insane. Second thing: what's in the briefcase? It's killing me. I have to know."

Neo sighed.

Setting the bag of rockets down on the ground, she started to undo the latches on the briefcase. As she slowly opened the case, Mercury let out a loud groan and put his hand in his head.

The briefcase was filled with crackers.

Emerald was so nervous she could barely contain herself. Any doubt she had in Mercury was gone the moment she got the phone call from Yang. She could barely form enough words during the conversation to pick a place for the two of them to meet. Every other word she would stutter, and Yang would just giggle and say it was 'cute.'

And now that she was actually walking right alongside the blonde beauty, she felt like her heart was to going burst out her chest. She was still impressed that she even managed to eat her dinner with how many butterflies were in her stomach.

Much to her relief, Yang had reframed from asking Emerald any 'work' related questions. She had marbles in her mouth when talking to Yang normally; she couldn't even imagine what she would do if she had to make something up about fireworks as well.

"Hey, the fireworks start in about ten minutes," Yang said, sending Emerald into a silent panic. "What do you say we go find a place to sit and watch? Come on, it'll be a _blast._ "

Emerald let out a fake laugh; not because of the pun (she secretly had a soft spot for puns), but because there was no doubt in her mind that this would lead to the inevitable 'fireworks technician' discussion.

"Yeah," she said timidly. "We should go now, if we want to make it."

Yang nodded her head vigorously and grabbed Emeralds hand before running towards the river. As the neared the river, they noticed a crowd gathering by the docks. Yang dragged Emerald over to the crowd to investigate.

"I wonder what's going on," Yang said, standing on her toes trying to see over the crowd. "I can't see what's happening."

"Someone stole fireworks from the barge," said a woman in the crowd. "They messed up the wires and now they can't start the show."

"What are they going to do?" said another person in the crowd.

"Is anyone here a fireworks technician?!" yelled a man from the barge.

Yang looked to Emerald expectantly. Emerald's opened wide, and she felt as though her heart had stopped beating.

"Emerald," Yang said, looking at Emerald with her beautiful lilac eyes. "You can do this, right? Come on, do it for me?"

Emerald had two choices at this point: 1.) tell Yang the truth and hope she likes her for who she really is, or 2.) make some attempt to actually fix the fireworks.

"So I made my way through the crowd," Emerald said. "I won't lie to you guys, I was scared. But I pressed on. And as I made my way onto the barge, a strange calm came over me. I don't know if it was divine intervention or the kinship of all living things, but in that moment: I was a fireworks technician."

Cinder walked into the cafe and sat down next to Emerald, who was telling her tale to an attentive Mercury and Neo.

"Emerald I've hearing about this all over town, it's unbelievable," Cinder said.

"Yeah," Emerald said. "I was just telling them the story."

Neo waved her hand to Emerald, motioning for her to finish the story.

"The river was angry that day, my friends," Emerald said. "Like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli. I was inches from thousands of pounds of commercial explosives when I saw the mess of wire and fuse before me. I tell ya, it was biggest mess of wire I'd ever seen, if I knew what. As I grabbed one of the knots, I felt it tighten in my hand, as though it were alive. And as I started to untangle it, I realized that the wires were caught on something. So I reached my hand into the mess of string-"

"I thought it was wires?" asked Mercury.

"Whatever."

Neo motioned for her to keep going on.

"So I stuck my hand in there," Emerald said as she stuck her hand into her bag under the table. "And I pulled out the obstruction."

Emerald lifted her hand from the bag dynamically, revealing the foretold obstruction to be Neo's umbrella.

All the eyes at the table turned to Neo, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She opened her mouth and let out a silent nervous laugh. She reached forward and took the umbrella from Emerald, nodding her head in thanks. She lowered the umbrella under the table, out of sight. As everyone continued to look at her, she could only give a timid smile in response.


End file.
